Why are my hamstrings so ‘tight’
Hamstring symptoms, tightness and/or pain are a common occurrence within the active population amounting to a large loss of time from activity. Many of these symptoms seem to reoccur despite good treatment and rehabilitation strategies. Often the region which someone experiences symptoms is not the structure that needs the most focus to eliminate symptoms and increase function.
In part 1 of this blog we will explore some of the reasons people get ‘tight’ hamstrings. In part 2 we will relate some of the theory to a common activity – the squat.
#1 The hamstrings are doing too much
One reason the hamstrings may present as 'tight' and continually tighten is that they are being overworked. By this we are not referring to excess training volume as a cause of injury but local muscle tissue overload i.e. hamstrings have to take up the slack of other muscle groups to perform certain movements.
For example, someone that cannot utilise their gluteal muscles, may really heavy on hamstring muscle force generation to perform movements involving hip extension i.e. squat, lunge, jump, running patterns. Over a period of time, the hamstrings may reach their limit of tolerance and at that point injury will occur.
#2 The hamstrings are in a bad position
This largely relates to the position the hamstrings sit as a result of pelvic position. We know that a muscle works best in its mid-range position i.e. when the muscles are neither too short or too long. If a muscle is too short or indeed too long then it is unlikely to operate optimally.
The position of the pelvis will ultimately set the resting position for the hamstrings due to their attachment site on the pelvis (ischial tuberosity). With many athletic individuals we see a tendency for lengthened hamstrings at rest due to an anteriorly rotated pelvis. This is especially so in those individuals involved in running based sports and hobbies. These individuals generally look like this. Notice the excessive arch in the lower back (lumbar spine). This position is also highly likely to lead to lower back pain alongside the heightened risk of hamstring injury previously mentioned.
Anterior Tilted Pelvis
The problem with this is that the hamstrings are positioned long relative to the distance between the attachments at the pelvis and below the knee, hence they will not be working optimally due to the lengthened position.
Unless pelvic position is improved and moved towards ‘neutral’ the hamstrings will never be able to work optimally.
#3 The hamstrings are doing too many jobs
Simply put, the hamstrings are doing their job and the job of other structures. A great example to use for this might be someone that is lacking stability around the pelvis. As a result the hamstrings, built as prime movers not stabilisers, might be asked to provide stability to the pelvis. Ultimately this gives the hamstrings more work to do and as result injury is more likely to occur. The hamstrings are not made as stabilisers so we don't want them used to stabilise. Unless pelvis stability improvement in such an individual is improved the hamstrings will continue to do too much and increased risk of injury is likely.
We hope this post provides an insight into some of the reasons more conventional hamstring rehab plans fail to prevent reoccurrence and provide substance that it is always important to not only diagnose an injury, but also determine what caused the injury.
Think twice about stretching those 'tight' hamstrings!
Look out for Part 2 of this blog coming soon. If you require any further information about the content of this article and/or the services offered by Perform Ready Clinic please contact us.
Thanks for reading
Perform Ready Clinic